Anchor command.“Repent
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”Acts 2:38

Anchor story. Saul (later called Paul) meets Jesus on his way to persecute
Christians. Acts 9

Anchor verse.“When they
had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they
were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with
boldness.” Acts 4: 31

Learning goal. Find how the apostles and believers in the first churches
witnessed for Jesus.

Growth goal. Believers carefully follow the example of the apostles.

Skill goal.
Testify for Jesus accurately in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Outcome goal. Many
believers testify effectively for Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Basic Study

Dear Lord, help us to learn
and follow the apostles’ example in the power of your Holy Spirit.

Learn from Saul’s conversion (before he was renamed Paul)…

·Why
was Saul traveling to Damascus? Acts 9:1-2

·What happened
to Saul on the way? 3-8

·What
did God enable Ananias to do for Saul? 9-18

·Why yes
was Ananias reluctant at first to go to Saul? 10-15

·How soon
was Saul baptized after Ananias came? 18

·Why
were people amazed by Saul? 19-22

·How did
Saul escape from the Jews who tried to put him to death? 23-25

·What
did the churches throughout Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoys after that? 31

Saul fallen from his horse at the appearance of Jesus

During the week go and visit people the same way the apostles did,
proclaiming Christ.

During worship…

·Tell
the story of Paul’s conversion, and ask the same questions as above. Urge
believers to discuss the answers.

·Ask
the children to present what they have prepared.

Memorize John 14:15.

Advanced Study

1.Wise shepherds and the helpers whom they
train do God’s work the way the apostles and other champions did it, as recorded
in the Book of Acts.
Pray now that the Holy Spirit will illuminate your mind and heart from the Acts.

2.Background of the book of Acts.
Acts was written by a medical doctor named Luke. He interviewed many people,
and he recorded the activities of the first apostles. He began with an
account of Christ ascending up into glory. Then, he described the arrival of
the Holy Spirit at the Jewish feast of Pentecost, the Spirit who dwells in
the hearts of Christian believers. The Holy Spirit gave the apostles power to
witness for Christ in different places. He does the same for us, today.

·Luke accompanied the apostle Paul on some of his trips and
recorded his work. The first chapters of Acts tell about the earliest days of
the first Christian congregation. The first few chapters focus mainly on
Peter’s ministry. Later chapters record the ministry of Paul as he and his co-workers
started congregations in the ancient Roman Empire.

·You will understand the book of Acts better if you can visualize
what the new congregations were like:

·They met as small groups in believers’ homes. Most congregations
had no buildings for almost three hundred years.

·They were led by shepherding elders who had no formal,
theological training. Today, some congregations call such leaders ‘lay’
pastors or, since they were always more than one, co-pastors. Some were paid,
others were not. In those years, they had no professional clergy as in modern
tradition. Jesus’ brother, James, became the main elder in Jerusalem and
Timothy in Ephesus. Today many congregations would call such a leader
‘pastor’ or ‘senior pastor’.

·They often prayed for the sick.

·They baptized new believers at once, and they broke bread to eat
the Lord’s Supper in their regular meetings.

·Their meetings helped people to know each other and to help each
other. Everyone was able to participate in various ways.

·They did not yet have the New Testament, so they mostly taught
each other from the Old Testament.

·In each city, they would form clusters of house congregations or
cells.

·Sometimes, false teachers would tell non-Jewish believers that
they had to obey Jewish traditions and Old Testament laws.

·Non-believing Jews would sometimes severely persecute the
Christians. Since those days, those who die for Christ are called Martyrs and
are the most privileged of God’s people (Rev. 20:4-6).

·Of course, the congregations were not perfect. They had many
problems and made mistakes common to new congregations.

3.Stories in Acts that are easy to dramatize, and to read
dramatically

One of the
greatest lessons from Acts is that everywhere the apostles went
making disciples, the way Jesus said to do so, congregations multiplied.

Congregations
also multiply today, when believers go to neglected peoples and make
disciples, the way Jesus said. If the people do not respond to the Good News,
Jesus told us to “shake the dust” from our feet and go where people listen
and believer (Luke 10:11).

How should we
make disciples the way Jesus said, so that congregations multiply? We must do
the things that the apostles did, which you will find in many chapters of the
book of Acts.

5.What the Apostles Did in Jerusalem

They prayed. Acts chapter
1. Pray like the apostles and the first followers of Jesus did. Pray that God
will give to you his promised power from the Holy Spirit, so that you can
witness for Christ.

They received
power. Acts 2:1-36. You can proclaim Jesus with the same power from
the Holy Spirit as Peter did, announcing the essential truths of the Good
News:

·Jesus Christ died on a cross as a sacrifice to God.

·Christ rose from death and gives life to believers. This was the
main point of the apostles’ witness throughout the Book of Acts.

·God promises forgiveness and eternal life to all who repent and
believe. The apostles told people to repent, that is, to have a change of
heart, not simply to make a superficial ‘decision.’

They obeyed Jesus. Acts
2:37-40. Teach new believers to obey all the basic commands of Jesus, like
the 3,000 new believers in Jerusalem immediately did, following the coming of
the Holy Spirit.

They healed the sick. Acts chapter
3.Pray in Jesus’ name for God to heal the sick, like Peter and John
did.

They were bold. Acts chapter 4. Speak
about Jesus, to people and to government authorities, with boldness like
Peter and John did.

They maintained discipline. Acts
5:1-16. Maintain holiness and honesty in the congregation, like Peter did.
God will support you as he did Peter in the case of Ananias and Sapphira who
lied to the believers and to God.

They interceded. Acts
5:17-41.Pray fervently for your shepherds and for those who are
persecuted, as believers prayed for Peter when hostile authorities imprisoned
him.

They worshipped in homes. Acts 5:42.Gather regularly in homes to worship, to break bread and to apply God’s
Word.

They had compassion. Acts 6:1-7.Serve the needy like the first deacons did in the congregation at
Jerusalem.

They had courage. Acts 6:8 –
7:60.Accept persecution and suffering with the grace that God gives
to believers, like Stephen did.

6.What the Apostles Did in Judea and Samaria

They spread
the Good News. Acts chapter 8.Witness for Christ in nearby regions,
both to people of your own culture and to those of other cultures, like the
believers from Jerusalem did in Judea and in Samaria.

7.What the Apostles Did as They Took God’s Word to Distant Lands

·They transformed lives. Acts chapter
9.Trust God to change the hearts of those who persecute us, like He
did to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus.

·They showed respect for other cultures. Acts 10
– 11:26.Give up your own cultural traditions with God’s help, when
you work in other cultures, like Peter and the believers from Joppa did, when
they started the congregation in Cornelius’ house at Caesarea.

·Congregations co-operated with each other. Acts 11:27-30.Believers of one congregation should help those of another congregation
in times of need, like the believers in the newer congregations did for the
poor believers in Jerusalem.

·They sought protection from God. Acts chapter
12.Pray and trust God’s angels to care for you in times of danger, as
you work where people are hostile towards Christ, like the angel did for
Peter when Herod imprisoned him.

·They commissioned apostles. Acts 13:1-3
and chapter 14.Let the Holy Spirit choose ‘sent ones’ who will work
as a team, not alone. Pray for them and lay hands on them. Send them to start
congregations in neglected places, like the congregation in Antioch did with
Paul and Barnabas.

·They started congregations, Acts 13:4
through 14: 24. Proclaim Christ, gather the newly baptized believers together
in obedient congregations, and prepare their local leaders immediately.

·They reported back. Acts
24:25-28. Let your ‘sent ones’ report back to their sending congregation what
God is doing, so they, too, can share in the blessing and can evaluate their
work.

·They practiced reconciliation. Acts chapter
15.Gather leaders from nearby congregations to resolve any
congregational dispute, as the elders in Jerusalem did for the believers in
Antioch.

·They evangelized families. Acts chapter
16.Go at once to the family and close friends of new believers, like
Paul and Silas did with Lydia and with the Philippian jailer.

·They adapted to other cultures.
Acts chapter 17.Adapt the way you present the message to the people’s
culture and mentality, like Paul did in Thessalonica, Beria and Athens.

·They often supported themselves. Acts 18:1-4.Support yourselves as you serve Christ, like Paul did when he joined
Aquila and Priscilla to make tents to earn their living.

·They sought responsive people. Acts
18:5-23. Leave those who reject Christ and go to people who are willing to
believe, like Paul did repeatedly in Greece.

·The mentored novice leaders. Acts
18:24-28. Instruct new leaders privately, ‘behind the scenes’, not publicly
or in academic institutions, like Priscilla and Aquila did for Apollos at
Ephesus.

·They reproduced congregations. Acts chapter
19.Continue work in a new region until the new congregations are
multiplying, like Paul did in Ephesus, in spite of rejection by some
and a riot.

·They strengthened leaders. Acts chapter
20.Continue to encourage the shepherds of new congregations,
instructing them, and preparing them to ward off ‘wolves’, that is, false
teachers, like Paul did for the Ephesian elders.

·They defended the faith. Acts
chapters 21 through 26.When you are brought before authorities, speak
about Christ boldly, trusting the Holy Spirit to give to you the right words
to say, as Paul did before the Jewish rulers, King Agrippa and others.

·They persevered. Acts
chapters 27 through 29.Keep persevering and trusting God wherever He
takes you, like Paul did when, as a prisoner, the ship was wrecked on its way
to Rome. There he continued to proclaim Christ, and the Good News spread
among many people.

8.Guidelines for Different Workers in the Book of Acts

Guidelines for evangelists

·Study Acts 10; 16:13-15, 29-40,
18:8.

·Communicate the gospel within other cultures by working through
existing webs of relationships and through local leaders.

·Work mainly through heads of households.

·When possible, get the cooperation of community leaders.

·Respect both their culture and their authority.

·Pray for the Holy Spirit’s power, and for the healing of sick
and demonized people.

·Make definite plans to communicate the Good News through family
heads and other leaders.

·Write these plans in your notebook, and discuss your plans with
your co-workers next time you meet.

Guidelines for Shepherds

·Study Acts 1:1-8; 2:37-40; 20:7, 17-38

·Depend on the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives and give
birth to new congregations.

·Do not work alone, rather train and work with other shepherding
elders, as you care for God’s people.

·Apply God’s Word to yourself and to your people.

·Baptise new believers without delay and teach them first to obey
the commands of Jesus.

·Celebrate the Lord’s Supper regularly.

·Maintain order, watch over the flock, correct the unruly and
ward off ‘wolves’, false teachers who attack the flock with division and
false doctrine.

·Correct without condemning (compare Matt. 18:15-20; Gal. 6:1; 1
Cor. 5). Do not tell an offending believer that he is not saved. Rather,
remind him that, since he is a child of God, he should behave like one (Eph.
4:1).

·Mentor new pastoral trainees constantly, so that they can help
serve your congregation and to start new ones.

Guidelines for congregations to prepare and send workers
to start new congregations

·Study Acts 13:1-5.

·Form a temporary task group, like the congregation of Antioch
did with Paul, Barnabas and John Mark, and send it to start new congregations
in neglected places.

·Choose those who have learned to make disciples and are gifted
to go. Make serious prayer and lay hands on them.

·These ‘apostles’ normally lead teams that start new
congregations in other regions.

·Those whom you send may correctly be called ‘apostles’ in the
sense that Barnabas, Luke and other ‘sent ones’ who were not of the original
twelve apostles who had known Jesus.

·Send them out from the mother congregation with the power of the
Holy Spirit.

·Pray for guidance as you make plans to form a task group to go
to a neglected region where there are not many Christians.

Guidelines for those who travel to start congregations
in neglected regions

·Study Acts 2:37-47 and 13:6 – 14:7.

·Penetrate both small towns and cities. Go where the people are
willing to listen and to believe. Let the gospel flow from the towns to the
cities and from the cities to the towns, either way. Go with the flow! Do not
think that the Holy Spirit is like a river that flows only one way.

·Instruct new believers at once to obey the basic commands of
Jesus, as the apostles did in Acts 2. The 3,000 new believers in the first
congregation at Jerusalem were obeying all of Jesus’ commands in their most
basic form:

1. Repent, believe, and receive the Holy Spirit.

2.Baptize.

3.Break bread (Lord’s Supper).

4.Love (fellowship).

5.Pray.

6.Give.

7.Make disciples.

·Give new congregations much loving care while they are ‘baby’
congregations. During their time of immaturity, they need much help and
counsel from other congregations.

·Maintain strong relations between congregations. A group of believers
that is small enough to practice the New Testament “one-another” relations,
is too few to have all the spiritual gifts promised in Scripture. All the spiritual
gifts are needed to sustain healthy congregational body life. Believers must
practice ‘body life’ between congregations as well as within them, as the
congregations did in the book of Acts.

·Ask for many volunteers, self-supporting workers to serve the
congregation (Acts 18:1-3). Operate a small business as Aquila and his wife
did, or any other vocation that allows you to meet and talk with the common
people, to tell about the gospel, and to gather believers into obedient
congregations.

·Deal with serious disagreements in new congregations by visits
from leaders of other congregations, as in Acts 15:1-31.

·Make definite plans to gather disciples who obey the commands of
Jesus, and to prepare their local leaders.

Guidelines for those who train new shepherds

·Study Acts 14:21-23 and 18:24-28.

·Keep visiting and sending others to visit new congregations
until their local leaders are appointed, as Paul did (Acts 20:13-36; Titus
1:5; 2 Tim. 2:2).

·Instruct new leaders privately, ‘behind the scenes’, as Aquila
and Priscilla did for Apollos.

·Make definite plans to train new leaders on the job.

5. The Pentecostal Experience Enables Believers to Obey Jesus

This little story comes from Shepherds’Storybook which is
free
from www.Paul-Timothy.net

Learner is a
new shepherd. Mr. Wise mentors him, and had been explaining from the Bible
what a congregation really is. He tells Learner, “The first Christians obeyed
Jesus’ general commands that sum up all that he commanded commands from the
very beginning. This obedience to Jesus is the foundation for new
congregations.”

Learner asks
Mr. Wise, “What are Jesus’ general commands?”

Wise replies,
“Jesus commanded many things, but seven general commands include everything
else that He commanded. We can find these seven basic commands in Acts
chapter two. The 3,000 new believers in the first New Testament congregation were
obeying them all before the end of chapter 2.”

Learner
quickly reads Acts 2:37-47 and finds that the new believers began at once to
obey Jesus’ seven basic commands:

They
repented, believed and received the Holy Spirit.

They
confirmed this conversion with baptism and continued to live the new, holy
life that baptism initiates (Romans 6:1-14).

They studied,
taught and obeyed the Word of God, which helped them to make disciples.

They loved God,
fellow believers and people in need, in practical ways. Their love was seen
in their fellowship and in the way they helped people in need. Jesus taught
that we must love even our enemies, which means to forgive them.

They broke
bread, that is, they celebrated the Lord’s Supper.

They prayed
regularly using Jesus’ name.

They gave sacrificially.

[Find in Acts
2:37-38 the answers to what Mr. Wise asked Learner:

“How soon were new
believers baptized and added to the congregation?”

Where did they break bread
to celebrate the Lord’s Supper?

How did they show, in a
very practical ways, their love for each other?

What did the Lord do for
the new, obedient congregation to make it grow?]

Learner
exclaimed joyfully. “Now I understand what a congregation is! It is people
who gather and obey Jesus. The first Christians honoured Christ. They
remembered what He taught, and they obeyed His words with fervour and joy. My
family is going to honour Jesus like those first Christians did.”

“Good,” Mr. Wise
answered. “With the power of the Holy Spirit, they obeyed the seven basic
commands of Christ from the beginning. To this day, God’s blessing and joy
come to congregations that obey Christ, because they love Him.”

Practical Work

·Help your congregation memorize the seven basic commands of
Christ, listed above, under #8, Guidelines for those who travel to start
congregations in neglected regions.

·Ask a talented believer to help write a short song about Jesus’
seven basic commands.
Let the believers learn the song.

·Help your congregation to obey Christ out of love because of what
He has done for us, not out of fear.

·Ask all the believers to obey Jesus’ basic commands before any
man-made rules or traditions from other congregations.